Revamp model is legally sound, says ICC

New Delhi: Responding to opposition from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to the proposed changes in ICC's structure, ICC's head of legal affairs Iain Higgins has said that the revamp model was "legally sound" and member boards can vote against it should it be brought to vote on Saturday’s Board meeting in Singapore.

On Wednesday, SLC president Jayantha Dharmadasa wrote to Higgins after a special meeting of the SLC stakeholders voted unanimously against the revised proposals presented to the ICC directors at the ICC Board meeting on January 28.

According to Cricinfo, Higgins has replied to Dharamdasa, saying that "the proposals themselves could be "considered" within the ICC's "Memorandum and Articles of Association" and members are free express their opposition.

“On the face of the resolutions themselves, they would appear to be correct. Any Member who disagrees with that analysis or any of the resolutions is, of course, free to vote against the resolutions, or take such other action as they see fit," Higgins wrote.

Apart from SLC, Cricket South Africa and the Pakistan Cricket Board are also unhappy with the proposals that will give a major say to BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia in the running of the game.

In his correspondence to Higgins, Dharmadasa had said the "purported proposals" were completely against the fundamental principles on which the ICC had been formed.

He feared that the revised structure would put power in the hands of "just three Full Members" and make available to them a "disproportionately large share" of the ICC funding meant for all ten Full Members. That, he said, would only violate the equal revenue-share model that was part of the ICC constitution.